“Dramatis Personae”

"Still, the inevitable feeling of pointlessness that ultimately comes out of the forced situation is all but unavoidable". Oh, spare me. Star Trek is mostly characters in "forced situations" and this one in particular -- alien posession -- is standard Trek fare. If your major bitch about it is that it feels pointless, one wonders why you even watch the show. It's like complaining that Kung Fu movies "inevitably" have fight scenes.

@mike
"forced situations" is not standard fare for Deep Space Nine, or at least it ended up not being.

Yawn. Once I knew something was infecting their brains--about the time Dax started giggling--I was bored. Because they had no control over their behavior, there was no tension or character development--and no plot tension as well since it was obvious Odo would solve it.

Unlike Jammer, I didn't find their behavior entertaining in the least because I knew it didn't mean anything.

A miss for me.

wow, i guess the comments section wasnt opened as early as VOY? only 3 comments...

this was an okay episode. nothing great.

I really like the episode. Odo, Kira and O'Brien make for a fun hour or political intrigue. At least they waited till the end of season on unless TNG to pull this stunt.

3 stars from me.

Watchable but not very engaging. Another "meh" episode.

4/10

This was a blast. It was like an alternate universe, and the different personalities were really entertaining. Sisko is lazy and violent, Dax is scatterbrained and lost in the past, Kira's seductive and evil, and Odo is the only one not affected. I really felt like I was watching different people. I wish the episode summary hadn't spoiled me on the plot. But hey, I looked. xD

Quite a fun episode, IMO, once you swallow the premise of this telepathic matrix acting out ancient history in any people it encounters.

The most interesting part for me though (brought on by binge-viewing DS9 again at the moment) is a throwaway comment by O'Brien right at the beginning, that keiko's taken a bunch of kids on an outing to Bajor. Its surely no coincidence that Winn turns up 2 episodes later ("In the Hands of the Prophets") at Keiko's school to sit in on one of her lessons, which is then denounced as blasphemous, presumably having got wind of Keiko's school through the Bajor outing. This is what sets DS9 above the other Trek series in my books, the way it's plotlines have been intricately laid out right from the start. Contrast this with Voyager, where promising antagonism between the Federation and Marquis crew was dropped pretty quickly by the end of Season 1.

This one is a guilty pleasure for me. I don't care that it's silly and over the top, I like it! Agreed with Dusty above, it's like watching an alternate universe episode.

Enjoyable episode. The one scene missing is the scene where Kira apologizes to Quark.

I like episodes like this. Back in the 90s I stopped watching because I can't stand stories about Bajor. I can't stand their race or their worshiping of the wormhole aliens. So I always wanted to see more episodes where weird things happened like this and the episode Visionary. Now later on I do like the long story arcs but I wish they would have gotten rid of 90% of the bajoran stories and added ones like this

It appears that Enterprise learned a lesson from this below average episode.

'Observer Effect" is alien possession done right, this is not.

No drama, Odo was going to save the day. blah, blah...

2 stars because Rene Auberjonois again makes DS9 watchable.

Teaser : ***.5, 5%

Kira shows up in Sisko's office to be a bitch (this is after all, her most natural state). She wants to deny a Valerian ship docking status at the station because the Valerians sold weapons to the Cardassians during the occupation and she believes they are continuing to do so. It's a nice callback to the more interesting parts of “Emissary” in that we are reminded why Starfleet is here, calling the shots: because the Cardassians would otherwise return on a moment's notice to reclaim Bajor. Sisko offers that the Federation would use political pressure to keep the Valerians from trading weapons with the Cardassians if Kira can find evidence to support her theory. Since it was Federation political pressure that finally drove the Cardassians off Bajor without starting another war, this should be an amenable idea to Kira. Shockingly, she actually follows this supremely logical course and decides to grant the ship access.

A Klingon ship emerges from the wormhole and explodes, transporting one injured individual to Ops who, with his dying breath, proclaims “victory.” Well, this is exciting! Mystery, political intrigue, reasonable characterisation. Looks like we're in for a great episode!

Act 1 : **.5, 17%

Sisko sends the Smart People in a runabout to investigate what the Klingon's ship was up to in the Gamma Quadrant and we get a close up on Terry Ferrel smiling goofily. Normally, this would just be another instalment of derp...acting? (see the last scene in “Q-less”), but the music tells us this is baaad news. She giggles and heads out with O'Brien.

Meanwhile, Kira is being her cheerful self, ordering a “slight delay” of the Valerian ship for her own personal suspicions, but Sisko overrides and clears the ship, cueing the third time Kira slams her hands against her console in this scene.

Odo and Quark chat about Klingons. Quark immediately sees through Odo's attempts to cull information about the ship, so Odo has to resort to bribery (you'd think Quark would be happy about this). Quark reveals the Klingon crew were after something “glorious” (what else could it be?). Odo turns to leave, but has a kind of Changeling seizure in which his head flaps open like a pair of wings and he falls unconscious (I immediately thought of Data's embossed tattoo from “Masks”). I still don't understand why an unconscious Odo wouldn't revert to a pile of goo. Is it not established that maintaining humanoid form requires concentration?

Act 2 : **, 17%

Odo “wakes up” in the Infirmary and Bashir has little to offer other than a rather cryptic set of paranoid theories.

Kira confronts Sisko in his office with her “hard evidence,” ready to confront the Valerians. She and Sisko get into a weird battle of wills and she steps aside.

O'Brien notes Kira's increased antagonism to Dax and they start acting weird as well, picking sides—Dax gets a little too chatty, O'Brien a little too terse.

Kira meets with Odo to gain his support, giving us a preview of her awful “intendant” style from the MU. Kira asks Odo to infiltrate the vessel behind Sisko's back. Odo refuses and she backs down offering the same “choose a side” bit from before. While these character shifts border on interesting, they are happening so quickly that they already feel like a gimmick, long before we know what's causing them.

Act 3 : **, 17%

O'Brien notes in his personal log that Kira “must have spies everywhere,” and thus the transformation from normal to influenced is basically complete in the course of the previous act. The Smart People retrieve a portion of the Klingon's logs and the crew review them in Ops, while Sisko expresses a profound boredom in the whole thing. Odo observes everyone's odd behaviour with concern.

Meanwhile, Quark makes Dax a sand sculpture to drink, mmm mmm. Kira shows up to try and recruit Dax to her team (cue: lesbian fan fic). Kira creepily maintains eye contact while sipping on her drink. Dax continues to absent-mindedly tell stories while Kira obsessively keeps trying to get her to help hold the Valerians and promises to “get rid of Sisko.” Quark overhears and Kira throws him down like an SS officer.

Apparently, this wiry Bajoran is so strong, she breaks Quark's neck. Jesus. So he reveals to Odo that he overheard Kira's little insurrection. Odo realises that everyone is acting strangely and Quark starts yelling, revealing that the neck brace is a Mort Goldman style ruse and he's not that badly hurt.

Odo finds O'Brien of all people sitting at Sisko's desk, reviewing the Klingon's logs. From what little we manage to garner from the video, something akin to the spheres from “Contagion” infected the Klingon vessel, and a mutiny ensued.

Odo finds Sisko in his quarters under heavy guard quietly and obsessively drawing a clock. In case we didn't already get it, he lets us know that he doesn't give a shit about the station anymore and tells Odo to talk to O'Brien.

Instead of slowly letting our characters transform into their various personæ, the episode has to beat us over the head with their new personalities ad nauseum. Either the writers didn't have confidence in the strength of their characters (and our ability to recognise the change subtly) or they really thought all these little performances were worth the screentime.

Act 4 : **, 17%

Mirroring O'Brien, Odo finds Kira with her feet up in his office, asking for his help. She confesses to locking down the Valerian ship. She tries seducing him with promises of her upcoming rule of the station. Odo tries communicating with an outside political party but the Federation and Bajor, but Kira and O'Brien have respectively restricted such communication. Odo is not surprised. He reviews the Klingon's newly reconstructed logs revealing the spheres of doom and an ancient power struggle.

Sisko orders O'Brien to arrest all the Bajorans, but O'Brien is more cautious and cunning. Sisko would rather go down phasers firing than play subterfuge with Kira, but O'Brien convinces him to wait while they conspire to leave on the Valerian vessel.

I think I know what Joe Menosky was going for here; the superimposed personæ attach themselves to hosts who most closely resemble the archived personality; Kira and Sisko are emotionally volatile leaders and, to a certain extent, don't trust each other; O'Brien is loyal and clever; Dax is nostalgic and aloof; Bashir is an observer, curious about politics (his later forays into spy thrillers are a testament to that). The problem is, the personality shifts are so extreme that we can't take these actions as revelations about their real characters (in contrast to, say, “The Killing Game”). If the episode could have been more patient and kept its cards closer, we could have followed a more natural progression from normal characterisation to exaggerated personæ.

So Odo finalises his theory about the telepathic matrix, using Bashir's own paranoia against him to get him to devise a technobabble solution to the real problem (the matrix) under the guise of dealing with the reenacted power struggle.

A Bajoran tries to poison Sisko in Ops. I suppose this particular Bajoran was in Ops when the Klingon was transported, because if he's just a regular unaffected officer following Kira's orders, that would reveal some major problems in the station's personnel.

So Sisko and O'Brien beat up Dax and the Bajoran agent, but Kira arrives with an armed party right before Sisko is able to kill the guy. Huh. So I guess there really will be some personnel problems. I'm sure there will be consequences...

Act 5 : *.5, 17%

Clever Miles beams Sisko and himself to safety (since Dax was too absent-minded to shut down the transporters). Odo plays along with Sisko while Bashir continues looking for his solution. Kira figures out that Odo is helping Sisko (but of course he plays it off as leading the commander into a trap).

Question : where is everybody? Isn't anyone else on duty? It seems like it's just the senior staff and a couple of extras running around the station at this point.

The notion that only those in direct proximity to the Klingon is confirmed as Odo drives out the matrix or whatever only when the senior staff is together (also ruling out the possibility that any of the other Bajorans (including the one who tried to kill Sisko) were affected, meaning they did this of their own volition. Geeze.

What follows is a goofy scene that takes all the suspense from the Beverly/Geordi plot in “Disaster” and throws it out so Odo can flush the matrices into space while the crew calmly avoids being blown out with it, suffering no ill effects. Great.

Kira tries to do some back-pedalling on this confusing idea by offering an apology to Sisko. We are given an interesting final shot where Sisko contemplates the clock he built while under the influence. Could this mean something? A sign of things to come?



Nope.

Episode as Functionary : *.5, 10%

A story with a lot of promise is really botched by some poor choices. How to fix this? Have the mutiny plot build up very slowly and naturally from Kira's initial disagreement with Sisko; there need to be a couple of scenes *after* they're affected by the matrix where they speak like themselves and gradually take on the exaggerated personalities unto a crisis point, when Odo can step in and save the day. Instead, they almost instantly change and we have to endure a bunch of pointless scenes that reveal to us nothing about these characters. Too bad. Another kind of significant issue is all the other people on the station! I mean, many of them went along with Sisko's and Kira's rivalry but weren't affect by the matrix. Shouldn't there be some fallout from how easily the Bajorans mutinied or how willing the Starfleet officers were to throwing the Bajorans under the bus?

Final Score : **

'...put the shoe on the right foot first, but put the left foot first into the bathtub.'

That line and Kira's reaction to it always kills me. :)

So: after an argument begins, a flash goes off in Ops, and everyone there is impacted, except Odo, whose non-humanoid nature allows him the objectivity to see how the personalities and identities of the major players are altered. In some ways, this episode reinforces the central narrative of Odo's life, which gets gradually complicated, obliterated and rebuilt: that Odo is the lone sane man in the wilderness; that solids are mercurial and dishonourable and Only He stands up for the truth, and so on. Even in lesser episodes (and this is definitely one), I'm impressed with the way the early episodes do set this aspect of Odo up for the future deconstruction. One of the enjoyable aspects of this show is to see Odo gradually learning to start playing multiple sides against each other, like he's Yojimbo/The Man With No Name, but primarily to get to a common goal to restore people to their natural state; my favourite is his easy transition from "I was unaffected because I'm a shapeshifter" to "only you and I were unaffected" with Bashir.

Anyway, one thing that's a bit frustrating about this show is that the Federation/Bajoran explosion of tensions that happens just underlines the story that's not being told -- which is, well, what actually *is* the Federation/Bajoran situation? How well *do* they work together usually? There's a lot of focus on Kira, but there are no other Bajorans on the station who have any key role (next episode introduces Neela). If the episode tells us something about these characters, and the Federation/Bajoran relations, we have to be able to at least somewhat measure it against a standard, which is somewhat lacking in this not-bad but scattered premiere season. I guess the way I'd interpret the story of this episode as being something along the lines of: historical conflicts repeat themselves, with smaller variations than one might think, in different situations, and it *can* become easy for conflicts to start following a near-predetermined script if there aren't sober minds ready to remind people who they are. It's a little like TOS' "Day of the Dove" in that way, but DotD didn't distort its characters quite so much that they were totally unrecognizable. As well as the idea that the conflict grows out of the conflict over the Valerians, Elliott points out that the personalities people take on have something to do with their original personalities; I'd add to his list that O'Brien's "don't get too close with the natives" statement to Dax in the Runabout represents a somewhat parochial and small-minded attitude that the generally very decent O'Brien occasionally shows. Bashir's excitement at a whole conflict springing up around him seems of a piece not just with his later spy novels but his enthusiasm about being approached by Garak when he believed Garak to be a likely spy, as well as his general desire to be on a station primarily to be close to the action rather than because of his genuine humanitarian concerns.

Brooks gets a lot of flak for his increasingly bizarre acting choices over the series, and I am not sure how I feel about him when he gets into full-on Brooks Acting mode later on, but I admit that it's kind of fun to see him going all out on playing a total maniac every now and again. IT'S A CLOCK!!!

Anyway, I end up enjoying this episode and it has a few points to recommend it, but it is *very* thin. I'd say 2 stars.

A slow burner that never really catches fire, this almost works as a prelude to the mirror universe, with characters playing off type and eventually chewing the scenery to (less than impressive) effect. Ultimately it meanders rather slowly to a conclusion. And because the characters are not playing heightened versions of themselves, we don't really learn anything about them.

What does work is Odo's playing off against all sides - particularly the smooth way he switches gears to engage Bashir - which continues to reinforce the feeling that Odo is developing into one of the strongest characters of this first series. 2.5 stars.

In terms of kooky Trek and kooky DS9 episodes, I enjoyed it. No there was no real drama, the payoff was just in how the kookiness affected everybody. Love how Dax turned out.

And why were you making the clock?
...I have no idea.

"Dramatis Personae" is a rather unremarkable story with an unremarkable sci-concept and an unremarkable ending. Still despite that, it does have a charm to it.

What we have is essentially a story where almost none of the main characters appear, as all but two of them act like completely different persons. Yet, the way the mutiny unfolds in a slow-burn, the enjoyably kooky performances from everyone playing someone new and the general atmosphere of unease as the new suspicious characters play off against each other all manage to make it a somewhat enjoyable, if ultimately pointless, outing.

If there's any flaw it's the complete lack of resolution to the Valerian ship sub-plot. Before the wackiness even begins, Kira is determined to show that they're supplying weapons to the Cardassians. They eventually discover that they are, in fact, doing just that. However, once the virus has been dealt with, it's all just forgotten about. What happened to them? Were they turned over to Bajoran authorities? Was their cargo seized? Who knows.

6/10

@Luke - THIS gets a 6/10 over "Captive Pursuit"? And "Wishes" (which is equally stupid but more fun IMHO) gets 1/3 of the score?!

You were doing so well up until now too... :P

"Captive Pursuit" was just bland. "If Wishes Were Horses" was dumb. This one at least had something going for it.

Of course, that's all just my opinion. I could be wrong. :P

@Luke - As long as you score the next two high you're forgiven!

I had to laugh when, every time Dax tries to tell a story (ANY story), she is interrupted just after she starts. I kind of liked that running gag.

Bajorans automatically following Kira when she tells them to go after the Starfleet personnel. Hmm... I wonder what the Baj security would do if, say, there were a civil war or uprising?

Heh, I liked the clock.

Regards... RandomThoughts

One thing I noticed.....Odo takes away the Dopterian...but leaves the stolen items on a table? Really?

I really got a pre-MU vibe here. Kira is seductive and violent, Sisko like his MU counterpart is lazy and violent, O'Brien is a strategist gaming war and politics.

I'm not opposed to alien possession plots as cliché as they are so long as they are handled well here it was okay.

The broader consequences would be interesting though what would happen once Starfleet Command and the BPG learn about this?

What if Kira had actually killed Sisko? Even if the BPG disavowed it and the possession was later discovered how would SF react?

This episode was quite middling, and would've been greatly helped by a strong musical score (think TNG's Booby Trap or Night Terrors). Sadly, we get the usual bland brass wallpaper music, which just highlights the banality of the episode. Thanks a lot Rick Berman >_<

This episode: 6/10
Avery Brooks: 10/10

Love it when he hams up the place

Rewatching DS9 season 1, and I really enjoyed this ep a lot more than I thought I would- it's not a classic but it's well worth my time. I especially love how Odo plays both sides to resolve the greater threat once he realizes what's going on - great character development there.

1.5 stars. Another potentially interesting idea executed in a very pedestrian way. None of it does anything for me. Probably why I wasn't a regular viewer of DS9 in season 1 back in 1993 and all these years later the first season still stinks. I'm surprised at the high ratings Jammer gave a lot of these S1 episodes honestly

This was absolute toss that I switched off in horror after the first ten minutes, stripping naked and whacking my back with a wet towel (as I don't own a cat o'nine tails) until the episode was purged from my mind. I love DS9. I love the characters. So the last thing I tune in to see is the characters acting like a bunch of prats from a panto. Surely they could have found a better way to exploit the differences between the Feds and the Bajorans than this? Look at how Voyager handled it, with Tuvok's holoprogram being reprogrammed by Seska. Not only was the episode funny, it was exciting and finished with a brilliant twist which made Tuvok look epic. (I've dated women like Seska.)

Well the battle lines are drawn better in the season finale, even if they achieved this by using the horrible Keiko. Ugh.

Just now watching DS9 for the first time. Nobody noticed a costume continuity trip-up: Sisko and O'Brien take their comm badges off so they can't be followed by Kira, but Sisko shows up in the showdown scene both with and without the badge on his uniform.

It's fun finding little things like that.

Major Kira is so sexy.

I keep wondering why Odo had that 'seizure' following his talk with Quark, one would have to assume it had to do with aftermath of the matrix infiltration as well, or is it simply a pretext for bringing him on the table of Dr Bashir?
The clock-obsessed Sisko, otherwise lazy and careless, looks as if the writers took the historical figure of Louis XVI as role model, who also liked to do a little clock working as his hobby while neglecting politics - which led to the French Revolution...

"Dramatis Personae" had potential.....on TNG. Except that TNG already did this episode, and did it better, in "Power Play". The workmanlike execution really sinks this one into mediocrity. It's entertaining but doesn't really play to any of DS9's numerous strengths.

2.5 stars.

An enjoyable hour even though there's nothing original here -- definitely interesting watching the power play unfold between the Kira and Sisko camps as it starts off quite naturally with the freighter docking. It's an episode that makes good use of most of the major players, although some of the behaviors while under the influence of the alien telepathic matrix are odd -- like Sisko withdrawing, Dax being confused -- it's really O'Brien and Kira that take charge. Sisko builds an effing clock!?!?

I wasn't sure why Odo collapsed early in the episode -- might have been when the telepathic matrix tried to take him over and failed. I liked how the rivalry/mutiny slowly builds and sure enough we can suspect that it is yet another DS9 episode of the station coming under the influence of "illness". I guess that would be a problem with the timing/premise of "Dramatis Personae" -- how many times in Season 1 has the station or its key personnel been in jeopardy like this ("Babel", "The Forsaken", "Q-Less", "If Wishes Were Horses" to name a few).

It kind of felt like a Mirror Universe episode (but DS9 will get its fair share of those). Also, it's an excuse to make the characters act out of character -- won't be the last time in DS9.

Kira really should have killed Sisko -- for how long did she have him at gunpoint? Naturally, Sisko is allowed to make a speech which buys time for Odo/Bashir to save the day -- quite typical. It's a pretty good Odo episode in terms of being the investigator, being neutral and not being vulnerable to the telepathic matrix.

2.5 stars for "Dramatis Personae" -- standard stuff but well executed. I think Visitor/Kira show why she is one of the best actors/characters on DS9 - different approaches to wooing Dax/Odo (not unlike Mirror Kira). Fairly predictable but a decent, enjoyable episode.

Very one note, repetitive scenes, obvious conclusion- best part, though, was watching Odo trying to balance it all, getting Bashir's cooperation, etc.

Nothing spectacular, a bit boring, but a respectable offering overall.

I must be one of the few people who thinks this ranks among the best DS9 episodes. I give it 3 1/2 stars.

@ Adrian,

I'm with you on that one. It's always been one of my favorites of S1 hands down. Aside from the fun story, it also ends up anticipating a lot of character traits in almost everyone that only become established much, much later. Details in this one end up being revisited (intentionally or not) in many episodes to come. Besides all that it plays on the basis suspense of the divided loyalties in the main cast and casts them all in an extreme light to show exactly where we're at right now in the series in terms of how much trust has really been established. It's almost like a bottle where we're being shown the character bibles from square one, but with a twist - that being, to act out the worst case scenario of how things might actually have gone down with Bajor.

Even though alien possession is a tired trope if not a cliche, this was a twist that was pretty fresh to me..since it's a whole,group of people being influenced by a sort of,energy matrix..which is like a telepathic library--itself a neat and pretty original idea-- and not just possessed by other entities but specifically acting out a power struggle those details make the episode more unique and creative and original sci fi...wouldn't you agree Jammer..this was pretty original and creative,sci first..maybe even more than Distant Voices from season 3..even if it wasn't totally riveting or powerful drama..does anyone else agree..?

@Leif I agree.

Could the ep have been better? Yes. I'd have liked to have seen more of the real characters, but at this point in the series they are still getting established so we don't know whether these are amplified traits, or just completely out of character.

For sci-fi there are stock plots and ideas, but the details in how it's executed are generally what interest me. So this episode,the question was 'they are out of character - why?'. That's what kept me watching, and of course the answer to that also determines whether the station and/or characters are in danger.

Not the best episode, but interesting enough for me - the the first time round, anyway, and again after enough time has passed to forget how it turns out. Certainly not a favourite to regularly revisit.

Not a bad episode in some ways, but inherently limited by the fact that it's a "reset" episode, where all the events and character interactions are wiped away at the end of the episode.

A throwaway episode that's not really worth rewatching.

Odo moves open cargo bay door: "Everybody grab onto something secure!"

Entire command staff of DS9 grab onto the flimsiest, least secure boxes in the Star Trek universe.

These season 1 episodes are short on any sort of explanation for what happens in the episode. Why was Sisko building a clock? (Also, I find the way he just says "A CLOCK!" hilarious) Chalk this one up to another random alien for which we know nothing about. It's just like If Wishes Were Horses - the aliens leave. But mister alien? Can we learn anything about you? "No, maybe next year."

I have to admit I enjoyed this. It was kind of a guilty pleasure, much like the Evil Janeway scenes in that Voyager episode where the Doctor is left behind on an alien planet, or the alternate universe episode of Enterprise.

I do enjoy this episode.

Re-watching it and Dax is hilarious. Her portrayal is just so wonderfully random. It makes no sense, no explanation is given, and it is simply briliantly played by Farrell. A highlight.

I hadn't seen this in years, and this time, I couldn't watch this all the way through. The characters were too far out of character to have any meaning. I can imagine the premise being interesting if they had each behaved as their normal character thrown into a situation where everyone else was preventing them from doing their job, with their usual motivation, perhaps cranked up several notches, and warped by a misperception of the circumstances. Kira comes closest to that, with her focus on protecting Bajor. But Bashir should be trying to study some imaginary contagion, not trying to pick the winning side in a mutiny. I'm not sure what Dax with all her past hosts' personalities should be doing, but not sitting around being a distracted ditz.

Maybe a person just has to be in the right mood to appreciate this episode. I just found it irritating this time.

"character development"

Here we go again with people no appreciating philosophical problems. This episode ask the the question who are we really? And it teaches us a potential way to get a conspiracy theorist to defeat themselves.

You dont nees character development all the time if there are lessons to be learned.

I liked it. I've read ALL the comments. Some good points ( you know who you are) some bad points
(same) and some real DK masterpieces.

I also know which of you are with me and which are against me.

@Jammer et al, can't we all agree the sci fi premise was ORIGINAL AND IMAGINTIATVIE it was a fresh sci fi twist on alien body possession and power plays was it not??

Yea jammer just because this had an old core concept of a power play, isn't the sci fi concept of a telepathic matrix fresh and creative and fairly new or original? It's like the neural energy and memories of several ppl and event stored somehow which makes it different from clichéd alien possession episodes like the Assignment and Warlod and not an archive so different from Massks so isn't it an original concept?

Dramatis Personae
One of the best Season 1 episodes with a Latin title!

Seriously, it was quite entertaining and foreshadowed the Mirror Universe episodes of later seasons. The actors really had a penchant for negative portrayals. So much so, that one begins to speculate whether their normal roles as decent people were, in fact, forced.

My main dislike was the violence shown toward poor Quark by Kira, who injures him rather gravely. That scene presaged the cruelty of Visitor's later role as the Intendant, heartless and chilling. That such behavior (and Odo's callousness towards the injured Quark, who attempts to file a complaint) fills in as entertainment, is troubling, for it diminishes the experience of victims everywhere.

A delightfully cheesy episode. Always worth watching for Avery Brooks's scenery chewing.

Usually I don't care much for "acting out of character" episodes but this one just kind of works. And I think it's because they aren't really acting out of character insomuch as they're acting in character excessively. The entities didn't create a conflict, they simply exaggerated one that already existed.

I'm more than ever convinced that this episode is amazing. Not so much because of the sci-fi plot, which in S1 fashion is vaguely uninteresting, but because of how they use the sci-fi shenanigans to further our understanding of the characters. To explain that I will post

SPOILERS

I suspect part of what irks people about this one is they feel it's a waste of time; much like the mirror universe episodes. And yet in the case of those, and this one, I feel the writers were doing far more than merely letting the actors goof around. In all the mirror characters I think we see a version deceptively close to what the prime versions are like, but just with differences in their background story. The personality aspects are all there, including even with the Intendant. And speaking of her, I think we see the protoype characterization of the Intendant right here. Check out Kira's gait, her head positions, the use of seduction when speaking with Odo, even though the scenes are not remotely romantic. And I am fairly certain she is also wooing Dax in more ways than one, albeit on a secondary level. And I don't think these traits are outside of Kira's talent, but rather are just outside of her belief system and self-image.

Then there's O'Brien, who I think doesn't present too hard a case in showing us how easily he slips back into being the tactical officer he used to be, with his mistrust showing in a manner not dissimilar to what we saw from him in The Wounded in TNG. In fact I really think the writing of The Wounded was being used to open up some possibilities for O'Brien in DS9, which really never came to fruition. But the deep loyalty for Captain Maxwell and the deep distrust of the enemy shine through here, and are totally in character for him. The only manner in which he's out of character is that his worse instincts are being pushed by the narrative in the telepathic probe.

Dax is an interesting one, because at this point in the series I think the high-mannered superiority and serenity is still very prominent in Dax's characterization. To be frank I liked that concept, although I was also ok with her becoming Curzon-ized later on. But as of now I think it's quite telling to show Dax lost in memories, almost blissfully uninterested in current events, not so much bored as restful, like she's about to take a nap in the sun. Although it requires some retcon-thinking, I see this episode as being rather on-point regarding where she is as a person right now: she thinks she's got everything together but is just a little too comfortable and dreamy, compared with the work I expect a Trill needs to do to really integrate the past lives into their present one. Later episodes deal with that. Right now I could see a good argument that Dax needs to wake up a bit and figure herself out; this idea of rejecting Julian because 'he's so young' and she's so much more advanced rings a bit false, in the right way (i.e. in the way which requires her to make some realizations and get her head out of the clouds). And I will say one more thing: Terry Farell delivers an outstanding performance here. There, I said it. Look at how relaxed she is in every scene, with such natural and subtle reactions to things. She's much less effortful than she is in most other episodes - and who can blame her, it's TV and you've got to turn it on. But since here she has an excuse to chill out, her reactions are superb, perhaps way above her normal acting level as an exercise. And actually I also reject the idea that her normal acting level is bad; I think she's rather talented, if untried.

Kira's behavior perhaps requires the least explanation, so let's skip her.

Julian...well actually he's really not so different from his normal self. But I think his 'secret agent' thinking here foreshadows a lot of what his character will develop into later on, which is really quite prescient writing considering that I doubt they conferred about this in detail. And it's quite true that Julian often seems to find value in the action of what's going on, rather than its meaning. I'll give a couple of examples: in The Quickening, he sees a medical problem to solve and gets all excited to tackle it, without stopping to see what he's doing in terms of their culture, or what will happen through his efforts (for instance might there perhaps be consequences to curing a plague that it in fact a form of punishment?) And in Hippocratic Oath he sees a people to save, ignoring the political realities involved. In both cases his loyalties are to solving the problem rather than to the Federation per se; and think fact gets picked up on by Sloan.

Siso is by far the best, though, because his outward behavior is the furthest from what we expect. Except it's really not out of character at all! First of all there's the malaise he experiences having to solve everything, which I think is very much in his character. And this isn't just a random personality trait but seems in keeping with his uncertainty in Emissary in committing to Bajor. There's the fact that he sees his interests lie in the contemplation of private matters, not related to his work, and this would in turn set him up nicely for his later-season choices to take on the Emissary role even above his Starfleet role. He is open to being pulled in directions other than duty. His temper, which we've heard hinted at already when he told Bashir he hit a diplomat in rage, is in full display here, and I expect this is what it looks like when he's losing it. And part of what makes him a good commander, that tone which makes it clear he won't tolerate being messed with, comes out in exaggerated form with his over the top megalomaniacal rant in the cargo bay. He really does think that anyone who messes with him would regret doing so; just he would never normally express it in this way. But finally - and this is the best - Sisko spends his free time in the hyperfocus of designing and building a clock. A clock of all things, given what we learn about him later on! His entire existence is a play on time and how things affect each other. And even though these elements weren't written yet, he did spend the pilot explaining time to the Prophets, so this motif is definitely already on the table. And here we see him being the designing of a sophisticated time device - very interesting! And here's a bonus as icing on the cake: Sisko had also spent the years between Wolf 359 and DS9 heading up starship design at Utopia Planetia, notably the design of the Defiant. So he does in fact have an interest in and a head for design in the first place. This episode hints to us that maybe he wasn't *just* hiding out there, avoiding deep space assignments, but that in some way he may have a real calling for designing and building things. And he does later design the house he'd eventually build on Bajor. His focus on the clock is even reminiscent of his behavior in S5's Rapure. That parallel is actually the most important one IMO as the people looking on in Rapture are as shocked by his behavior there as we are by his behavior here in Dramatis.

Overall this is probably one of my top 3 eps from S1, after Duet and In the Hands of the Prophets. I'm actually quite fond of Progress as well, so for me at least that makes the tail end of S1 very strong.

i really liked this one

watching the actress who plays dax parody herself was fantastic, she did an amazing job

"but put the left foot first into the bathtub", and the 'knowing' nod she did while sipping the drink

pure genius

im going to try and show my friends this, and i know theyre just going to humor me, but hopefully at least one truly appreciates it

reporting back to say that yes, i have shown this scene to multiple friends


and yes, they have all looked at me with pretty much the exact same face kira gives dax


its still fantastic and theyre all missing out

JAMMER I HOPE you.and SOMEONE ELSE.can answer wasn't the alien body possession here a FRESH TWIST on the typical possession a la other episodes like The Assignment or Warlord on Voyager? Hope to hear from you!

GET ME A PHASER!

Not half bad given the idea's been done to death on Trek, oftentimes better. I'm commenting to share my view that it wasn't an empty exercise in possessed crew going crazy, but that it also played on the relatively uneasy cohabitation between Bajorans and Starfleet. Too bad the episode didn't play around with it more and that the entire thread got dropped pretty quickly overall in the series.

One major gripe I have with this is that the episode strongly alludes to the fact only the OPS crew was infected which kinda lowers the stakes and makes you wonder what the hell the rest of the crew was doing. I know they are senior officers, but to have 5 people freely live out their psychosis on a station which presumably carries several hundred personnel makes no sense. Say what you will about 'Night Terrors', but that was a uniquely disturbing experience as the whole ship was completely left on its own. Speaking of Terrors, it's hilarious how quickly O'Brien fell into the exact same persona both times.

@Filip when has this idea been done before..a tekepathic matrix conraonong essences of several ppl.as well their situation and thanncam travel throigh space isnt that a bery ORIGINAL twist on tje old alien possession idea or a power play..Correct le if I am wrong..but seems very fresh and original tome..and kind of clever and original tying it somewhat back into the real conflicts of the real characters..


@MusicalTurtle THANK you for RESPONDING
.Sorry just saw your response now.